Fritz Block was born in Hamburg Germany in 1889. He studied under Wilhelm Kreis and in 1921 opened an architectural office
in Hamburg with Ernst Hochfeld. Block & Hochfeld were dedicated to the functional building style of the 1920s. Block documented
his work extensively with photography. He traveled extensively to North Africa, France, Asia, North America, and the Dalmatian
coast producing, with the help of his wife Anna Sophia, travel reportages that were published in Hamburg magazines. In 1938,
Block liquidated his architectural firm and moved to Los Angeles, California to focus exclusively on photography. Two years
later in 1940, Block started his own color slide company in Hollywood, California called Dr. Block Color Productions where
he sold 2 x 2 in. kodachrome sets of slides on the subjects of modern architecture, modern ceramics, and nature. His major
clients were museums and universities. Fritz Block died in 1955.

Scope and Content note

The Fritz Block papers span 7 linear feet and date circa 1918 to circa 1955. The collection is composed of pencil drawings
of furniture designs, presentation and working drawings primarily of apartment residences located in Germany, pencil drawings
of tombstone lettering and design, sketches of building exteriors, slides, glass plate negatives, newspaper and magazine clippings,
correspondence, scrapbooks, lecture notes, and black-and-white photographs taken by Block documenting architecture, interior
design, nature, and people. The Fritz Block papers also include a folder of reprographic copies of other architects work:
Ain, Johnson, Day; Clark & Frey; Richard E. Lind; and R.M. Schindler. The majority of material is in German.